


P.S. You're Mine

by wonderfulmax90



Category: Guns N' Roses, Motionless in White (Band)
Genre: Cinderella AU, F/F, F/M, Gen, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Male Cinderella, Romance, Teen Romance, Teens, cinderella retelling, gay main character, m/m - Freeform, m/m romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-02 21:16:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13326525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonderfulmax90/pseuds/wonderfulmax90
Summary: Saul "Slash" Hudson has a big secret. He's not meant to be a part of this time line. On a bad acid trip, he was sent into the future where he is now residing. He's been trying to stay low-key as his older self. the one from a different timeline where Slash never went on this drug trip, can't know about his other self as that would cause a paradox. But, he falls in love with someone very close to his older self. Someone that can't know his secret.  Vinny also has a huge secret. He's a prince spending his senior year in America. He wants to experience life as a normal American teenager. Vinny also falls in love with someone who can't know his secret. He wants to find a normal love as a normal American teenager. Max is in the middle of this all. He is just a normal teenage. Well, normal in the fact that the situation he is in is normal to him. He's an aspiring photographer with a father and mother he will never know. Max is the man who both Slash and Vinny have fallen in love with. He has a big decision to make when all of this comes crashing down.





	1. Chapter One

I really do enjoy a happy ending, to an extent. The whole idea of getting a love is just an amazing thing to ponder when I’m all alone. It would make me so happy to get my own. But I loved dreaming and seeing happy endings play out. When the man finally finds his soulmate. When all of his hard work paid off in the end. When he finally gets to rush into the arms of his love and get swept off of his feet. They would kiss each other and the wonderful lovely sun would begin to set. They would maybe even be on the beach. Then they walk off into the sunset with a smile on their faces. They would go off to live the American dream. Two and a half kids and a white picket fence. Though, I knew that was kind of unrealistic. Not many people really got to do that. To walk off into the sunset and marry their soulmate. It was adorable to watch though, seeing all of the happy couples together. The thought of having a love like the stories in the books is all I ever wanted. But I knew that never happens and if it does, the people involved tended to fall out of love very quickly.   
I smiled to myself and began working on dinner. It was my mom’s favorite, tomato soup. This would definitely be after all of the homework I had and the ACT prep. She loved to make me do the dinner but she liked me doing my homework more. She always say that I would be the breadwinner of the family. I was meant to make all the money in the family. I need to make sure I got into all the Ivy League schools. I needed to do everything I could to be successful but I wanted to become a traveling photographer or a writer, maybe even do both. But she tended to beat me when I expressed my interests in the arts. She would sit on her ass all day and watch whatever she wanted on the internet. Or gamble all of her money away.    
Though she was still mooch off of my dad’s will and his insurance money, so the money she gambled away wasn’t hers, technically. It was supposed to be mine. No one knew I was the son of this famous musician. He wanted me to live a normal life but he died before I was born and my mom had just married him after his previous wife (my mom) divorced him. She had me the day before my dad died then she died not too long after. No one would know that I was the kid of a junkie and a rockstar musician. Their names weren’t even put onto my birth certificate because they didn’t want me associated with them. Custody went to my stepmom when she adopted me to probably make money off of my name and my father’s name since a good chunk of the estate went to the male heir of my father. Luckily for me, I was born before he died and was a male heir to his throne. She knew this and she made me do everything around the house. If I didn’t do all of this, I would be beat up by my mom.   
“Well, she was a pretty girl, but there was so much more to her. She seemed like a total skank, in my opinion. Her hair was all full of extensions and shit. Any real hair on her head was damaged by whatever drugstore silver hair dye she used on it. She was all full of these trashy ass tattoos and he dress was tighter than her skin and it barely passed her ass. All I can say is that she will never be working any type of job with all of those tattoos.” My mom walked in and side eyed me before she sat down at the kitchen table. She nodded lightly before I finished up what I was doing, making her some tomato soup out of the can. I hoped she didn’t notice, but I’m sure she would.   
I listened in on their conversation, my eyes were down as I avoided eye contact with her, and sighed a bit as she tasted the soup. Her face screwed up as she spat it out. The bowl lifted up a bit as her hands came down onto the table, her fists making a loud banging sound that I am sure the neighbors heard. Some of the hot soup hit my face, burning me. I picked up the bowl and sighed a bit as I looked at her. The anger she had was now turned towards me. I knew what was coming next. She would stand up and she would hit me. I cringed in horror as I prepared myself for the pain. But it never came. I never felt the sting of her hand on mine. I sighed lightly as I gave her a look. She was angered and her hand was raised but someone on the phone seemed to stop her. I sighed lightly and smiled, breathing a sigh of relief.   
There was a moment were everything hung in the air. It was as if someone had pressed the pause button on the television. The world was frozen around us. My mom didn’t move her hand. It was still raised above her head in anger. I was still in my position of terror, my hands up as I tried to cover my face from the impending doom that was her hand. Nothing moved a centimeter and we barely breathed. No one said anything. Not even the person on the phone said anything. We just stayed there, silent and unmoving. Then the man spoke, breaking up our moment of silence. My mom turned her face back to the phone and broke whatever amount of peace we had in the house.  
She walked over to the couch and sat down, turning on the television. She was out of my eyesight as soon as she sat down and I was out of hers as the couch faced away from the the kitchen. I sighed and started to clean up the mess she had made. She hadn’t spilled much but it was enough to where most of the table had at least a drop of soup on it. Once I was done with that, I grabbed myself my bowl and headed up to the attic, my room, with some of the soup. It wasn’t enough to fill me but it was enough that she wouldn’t notice that any was gone from the pot if she went in for seconds.   
I laid on my bed looking up at the ceiling as I tried to let the soup cool a little bit. I turned, grabbing some bread out of the drawer next to me. I smiled and looked down as the soft bread touched my bed. I had bought this, and hid it, all on my own with the money I made from taking photos. It was mostly all I could afford because I didn’t make much from these photos. They were mostly from parties friends held and all that good stuff. It wasn’t much but it meant food. I sighed and looked over at the steaming bowl of soup. It had cooled down a bit and I was able to pick it up without much pain. I began sopping up the soup with the bread. I smiled as the warm bread went down my throat. I smiled and curled around the bowl. The heat from it warmed up my lap and hands.   
“Maxwell Andrew! Did you steal some soup?” My mom called angrily from the first floor. I jumped, immediately hiding the bowl and bread in my nightstand drawer. I could hear her coming up the stairs. I straightened up and got on my laptop. I was on a random educational website before she burst open the door.   
“No mother, I did not steal any of the soup.” I said calmly even though my heart was pounding in my chest.   
“Then why is some of it missing?” She asked, her voice eerily clam as she moved to stand at the foot of my bed.  
“Because I gave some of it to you to eat but you slammed your fist on the table and it spilled everywhere. I cleaned it up and I came up here.” I smiled lightly as I sort of told the truth. A growl left her mouth as she stood up, heading out of my room. She somehow accepted the partial truth for once. She never did that. I normally had to tell her a lie and then the partial truth. Then the whole truth then she would still not believe me. But she actually allowed me to go with the partial truth. I slowly pulled the soup and finished it up quickly.   
A random number popped up on my phone along with a text, “Are you down for a photoshoot tonight?”  
“Who is this? If you don’t mind me asking.” I texted back and almost immediately got a text back from them.   
“The name is Saul Hudson and I would like to make sure I look good for some social media posts I want to make. I also want to make sure I get my name out there along with some talented photographers. I found you through a really good friend and I really want to get my photos taken by you. They said to got to your Instagram page and I found your phone number there and I know this is probably really creepy but I really do want to work with you. Are you interested?” I smiled lightly and looked him up on Instagram, which thankfully he had. I screenshotted the page and sent it to him.   
“Is this you?” I asked, looking at the handsome man in the photos. I scrolled through them and smiled. He had thick curly hair that was almost always pulled back into a bun and dark tanned skin. He was ethnically ambiguous and if he hadn’t put that he was mixed (half black and half white), I wouldn’t know what race he was. A small smattering of freckles went across his cheeks and nose. He smiled lightly in almost every photo. When the sun hit his eyes, the color was a beautiful golden brown.   
“Yeah, that’s me. Are you interested in doing a photoshoot with me?” He asked and I smiled lightly. I nodded to myself and smiled lightly.   
“Yes, I am very interested in doing a photoshoot with you.” Ideas were already running through my head with what I could do.  
“What’s your hourly rate?” He asked and I didn’t know how to respond to that. I never worked for an hourly rate before. I just got whatever people could pay. They weren’t as rich as what my photos told and I know my photos made it seem that way.  
“I don’t really have one, to be honest. People just tend to pay me whatever they can pay me.” My hands shook as I looked at the texts coming through to my phone.   
“I’ll pay you around fifty for the first hour and then one hundred for every hour after that. How does that sound?” He asked and I smiled lightly.  
“Of course. What day and time do you want to meet?” I asked as I looked at the phone in front of me.   
“How about this Saturday at noon?” He asked and I went to check my calendar, a Guns N’ Roses one that featured photos of them from their glam era. I was definitely free and I would be for awhile.   
“Yep, I am free this Saturday. We’ll meet at Elementary Park. The lighting is really good down there.”   
“Sounds amazing. I’ll see you then.” The texts stopped and I smiled to myself. I had a high paying job for once. I mean, meals were amazing and all but money allowed me to purchase my own shit. Save it up and be able to love this life a bit more because it’s one more step towards freedom. One more step towards a life away from the person I called a mom.   
I really don’t even know why I called her my mom. She just raised me and she did a pretty shitty job at it. I was so detached from her and she never seemed to really care for me. She had her own kids that she never really cared for. The kids’ fathers actually had custody of the. She only saw them once a week. I never seemed to think that I was going to be all that cared for but I wanted a mother and a father figure. I blindly put that love into her but she never returned it. She always hit me and downed me.   
I moved and looked down at myself, heading over to the mirror in my room. I began doing my hair which was thick, brown and curly. It took a bit to actually do my hair. A lot of product went into my hair. Not as much as people with kinky hair but it still took a bit. I washed and dried my hair with shampoo, doing a hot oil treatment afterwords. It was similar to the man who asked me for pictures today. I slowly brushed my hair and looked at myself. The same smattering of freckles went across my cheeks and nose that was the same as the man. We shared the same green eyes and I looked at the photos again. We did look similar but I chalked it up to that we were both mixed. At least, one of us was mixed. I didn’t know what race I was.   
I finished my hair and twisted it out before heading into the shower. I brushed across some tattoos and a few scars on my body. Some I didn’t want to go away. They were more like battle scars than anything. Bits and pieces of my life that I never wanted to forget. The ones from abuse and the ones from a bit of violence against me. Some from surgeries that I had. It was like a story of what happened to me. What was once a terrible story happened to turn into a lovely story. A story I wanted to tell with other people. Ones I had already shared through my ‘I Am Human’ series with my photography.   
I kind of told it because I wanted people to be able to tell their stories. Or tell the stories of the ones who’s voices who were not heard. It was either because of abuse or that they weren’t out of the closet yet. My heart actually broke for those who had to hide who they were. It made me want to do more for them. To help them out but I really couldn’t. I had no money to really help them at all. I vowed to help them out as soon as I got money. They were always getting hurt and there were terrible stories coming out every day. I saw the photos of people after getting their faces bashed in. It really broke me down to the bone. But no one seemed to care about my community. No one seemed to want to help the gay community out. All these people cared about was taking selfies and getting boob jobs to care for the community that was fighting for their rights and lives almost every day since Stonewall. All we really wanted was to live in equality.   
I felt like I had to be strong for these people and weak all at the same time. I wanted to show them that I was also a bit in between. Not all the way strong and not all the way weak. Just neutral. I wanted them to be proud of who they were just like me. That I was human to all of those bigoted people out there. I wanted to show that I was a bit of a freak and weirdo sometimes. That it was okay sometimes to call yourself a weirdo and a freak. I was different and weirdly unique. I loved who I was and who I loved. I wanted to be able to love who I pleased because I was just like another human being out there. I had faith in the fact that people would see my work and take faith in the fact that there was someone out there showing their story. That the story I was telling was a lot better than fearing the other side.   
We could just open our minds and we could see this world as beautiful and wonderful. There had to be some truth into both sides of the argument. I allowed people to tell their story and then judge them. That we had to open out minds and hearts before we could even judge people. Before I said anything I wondered how it would hurt the person if I ever said anything. My silence could not be bought and that’s why I started this project. Nor did I want to shout this from the rooftops. I didn’t want to take anything away from the project. My project was lowkey both and that was okay with me. The whole project had to speak for itself. It made me feel so good to be telling this story.  
I got out of the shower and smiled lightly as I moved into my room. The room as a bit messy but it wasn’t to the point where I needed to actually clean it. It made me feel a bit bad for not doing it earlier. My mom actually kept saying that I needed to clean it before she beat my ass but I kept pushing that boundary further and further. I wanted to know how far I could push this test before I actually got my ass beat. I stepped over some clothes and picked up a pair of boxers. I set it next to me as I dried my hair with a shirt. I put my phone on my nightstand and put it on its charger. It was getting pretty late and I needed to be at school early for a photography project. I pulled on my boxers and smiled, laying down in bed.  
~  
As soon as I woke up the next morning, I took the bread out of my nightstand. I snuck downstairs and grabbed some food. I grabbed some of the extra tomato soup. I smiled lightly and headed out. My mom was passed out on the couch. She cuddled into her boyfriend. He was watching some late night television. I don’t think he heard me. Though he seemed to move a bit when I saw him. I smiled as I watched a bit of the show he was watching. It seemed to be one of those super dramatic police shows. I smiled and looked at him. He didn’t seem to see me either. Which was a good thing. He probably would have beat me for being up this early. Say I was disturbing his peace or whatever. He could’ve easily noticed me. He wasn’t making any attempt to actually notice me. I backed out of the room and smiled, heading outside.  
I mounted my bike, an old motorcycle that my dad fixed up. He left it to me in his will for me. It was said that he fixed it up for me. He wanted his kid to have a ‘sick ass ride’ to get on their sixteenth birthday. I wasn’t really that mad about it. I loved this piece of my dad. It was the one of the only things I had left of him. I had this motorcycle and the entirety of his closet, which I tended to where on the daily. I loved the slightly baggy clothes and the eighties vibe it gave off. Even some of his more recent clothing, the shirts and pants he had gotten for his ‘business trip’ before he died, were very lowkey and comfy. Mom wanted it to be throw away. She hated being reminded of my dad. She said that she wanted to move on with her life. Mom didn’t care that I wore his clothes. She was just aggravated that I was still using the motorcycle. I knew it was a ‘death trap’ and she reminded me of that every chance she got.   
I walked down the lone hallway, not a single human being in sight. I mean, there would be another human soon. The janitor waiting to opening the art studio door for me. But when I stopped at the door, she wasn’t there yet. I waited for a few minutes before she came, hobbling down the hallway unhappily. She didn’t even have a hint of a smile on her face. I smiled awkwardly as she fumbled with the keys. Once she finally got ahold of the right key, she opened the door, letting me. I walked into the studio and smiled lightly. My teacher had actually left the keys for me. He wanted me to get this project done.   
There were a few paint splatters on the wooden tables. I smiled lightly as I brushed against them, dragging my fingertips across the tables lightly. The air was a bit cold as the heat hadn’t kicked in just yet. Teachers won’t even be here for another hour. I walked to the teacher’s dead at the front of the room. I sat down and pulled out the middle drawer. The keys to the darkroom sat in the middle of the room. I smiled and looked down lightly as I took the keys. I stepped across the room and opened the darkroom up.   
This was where I lived and spent most of my time. Lunch and most days after school were spent here. I sometimes spent early mornings and weekends here. But that was only if the school allowed me here. That was very rare and I tended not to get access. So each chance I got to get in here early was a gift. My teacher tended to back me up on these early morning trips. Everyone knew most of my works decorated the halls and that I was supposed to be on my way to the best school in the United States for art, the California Institute of the Arts. Which I was ecstatic to actually try and get in. Which is why I was here so early. I had to finish up my portfolio before the deadline to apply.


	2. Chapter Two

The halls were now filled with talkative teenagers. First period was ready to start in a few minutes and I had to grab my AP Gov book before I could head to class. My portfolio was finished and I was going to send it in tomorrow with my finished application. I threw my backpack over my shoulder and walked to my locker. A large crowd of people had crowed around it. I shoved my way through the people. I stopped in the middle of the circle that they had created. My eyes shifted around to the people in the crowd. My heart beat faster as I looked at the sight. The palms of my hands were getting clammy. A heat creeped to my cheeks as now all eyes were on me. They were waiting on my reaction.  
A large bouquet of roses were tapped to my locker. There must’ve been three or four dozen flowers there. A bit of lavender was stuck in there as well. All of the roses were different colors and each color had a different meaning. I knew all of them were good since we had to study these colors and their meaning in photography class. It was our Valentine’s Day project. Red roses meant love and romance. Lavender meant enchantment, majesty and love at first sight. The pink roses meant love, gratitude and appreciation. White roses were purity and innocence. Probably to show that this person’s love was pure and innocent. The orange roses were desire and passion. This person really seemed to like me.   
A smile made its way onto my face as I built up the courage to walk up to the roses. I didn’t want to disturb the beautiful sight, a note nestled between an orange and a white rose. I picked it up and took a deep breath. I smiled and looked down at the note. I felt like my chest pound as I looked down. I didn’t want to read it. What if it was all a fucking joke? What if I had gotten all excited for my heart to broken by a joke?   
But it wasn’t a joke. At least, the note didn’t say that all of this was a joke. I was still waiting for someone to start laughing. No one made a sound. The hallway was now silent. You could hear a pin drop. The note was really sweet and I never thought someone would actually be that sweet to me. I wasn’t the one to get these grand gestures of love. Max, I know you don’t know me and we’ve barely crossed paths but I really do like you. I’ve been crushing on you for awhile and I hope to take you on a date as soon as I am able to build up the courage to actually tell you that I like you and ask you out on a date. Love, Your Secret Admirer. I smiled to myself and held the note to my chest. I opened my locker and smiled, picking up my Ap Gov book.  
The bell rang and everyone headed to class. Everyone murmured and I could only assume it was about me. I would be surprised if the talk wasn’t all about me. What else could be more exciting than roses appearing on my locker? Anyone’s locker, in fact, would be super exciting. I took myself to class and smiled lightly. I would have to get the flowers when I went to get my books for after lunch. Thankfully I would only have two more classes after that. The bell rang once more, signaling the start of class.  
The lunchroom was loud, buzzing with the energy of around a hundred to two hundred teenagers. The small lunchroom wasn’t big enough to hold all of us. A lot of people had to stand or sit by the walls. I turned, looking around for anyone who wanted me to sit next to them. But instead, I got silence. The once loud cafeteria was now utterly silent. Of course, I could still hear a pin drop. I blushed lightly and looked at the people who had chosen to stare at me. Some gave me a smile and others turned to their friends to whisper in their ears. I held my food tray and looked down, not used to the attention.   
“Hey, you can come sit by us if you want.” A guy with a slight Italian accent touched my elbow and pulled me over to a surprisingly empty table.   
“T-t-thank you.” I whispered as I stood for a bit. The guy sat down across from me and motioned for me to sit down. I did so and looked him over.  
He was the new kid. Transferred to this school at the beginning of the year. Every woman and gay guy in the school swooned over him. This guy was a fucking rarity in this town. He was very gorgeous as well. Deep hazel eyes and long dark brown hair with the signature Italian tanned skin made him a rarity in this town. Most of the people here were brown skinned but we never really had a caucasian person in this town. Even I was mixed so I wasn’t that white. So it was a little weird to see a full blooded white person in this town. Which, in hindsight sounds a bit racist. But he was so interesting to all of us. For him to ask me to sit with him was an honor.  
His aura was very mysterious as well. No one knew his backstory. He just came here with no backstory. No one knew who he was. His parents didn’t even come here with him. People wanted to know who he was and everyone was itching to figure out who he was. Even I was and I normally stayed out of people’s business. This man was the talk of the town and even months after he got here, he still was. To be asked to sit with him was a complete honor. No one ever got asked to sit with him and I mean ever. He liked to sit alone at his own table in the back of the cafeteria. Even with the limited space, no one dared to sit next to him. Who knew what he could do to you with a snap of his fingers. He gave me a smile as I sat down across from him.   
“Well, you are very good looking.” I blushed and looked at him as he took a bite of his food. I took a bite of my food and smiled a bit.   
“No, ‘hi’ or ‘how are you’? No human decency? Wow, we’re really just skipping all the small talk here.” I asked as I looked at him. He giggled and looked down, blushing a bit. The man rubbed the back of his neck nervously and smiled lightly as I ate a bit more of my sandwich.   
“I’m sorry, your features are just so striking and not in a bad way. I had to bring that up. I am sorry for being so forward with you but I wanted to speak my mind.” He looked at me and smiled lightly. I took another bite out of the bland sandwich and smiled lightly as I tried to find a response.   
“Oh, why thank you.” I smiled again and looked at the small amount of vegetables in front of me. A small blush creeped to my cheeks as I smiled lightly.  
“So, what’s your name?” He asked as he looked at me. I blushed lightly and smiled as I looked around the lunchroom, the buzz of speaking teenagers finally back to its normal volume.  
“The name is Maxwell Andrew Hudson.” I extended a hand and smiled lightly as he took it. He shook it lightly and smiled. His hands were soft with a bit of callousing on the palms and fingers. Not enough to make his hands hard or anything but they were noticeable. His touch made me blush a bit and I liked that. He made me feel so good.   
“The name is Vincenzo Mauro. But you can call me Vinny if you like. It’s a lot less of a mouthful. How are you, Maxwell?” He asked as I smiled lightly, going back to eating. His eyes light up as he looked at me. I looked down and smiled, hiding it from him. He blushed as I looked back up at him.   
“I’m doing pretty good. How are you?” I asked, putting the sandwich down. He smiled and looked at me. Looking at him made butterflies swirl in my stomach.  
“I’m doing better now that I found the most handsome man in the entire city.” He smiled and finished up his sandwich. I blushed lightly and smiled all the same.   
“I’m not all that interesting nor am I all that handsome.” I whispered, finishing up my food and taking it over to the trash can. I looked up and saw my friend looking at me. She waved and I smiled. I shot a look at Vincenzo and he nodded, smiling. He waved me off and his smile never faded. I giggled and ran over to her.   
She was the most popular girl in school. Well, one of the most popular girls in school. Blonde hair and blue eyes, head cheerleader. She had the perfect figure and loads of dudes, and women, fawned over her. She was everything I wasn’t. I was the gay best friend and she was the lead in the high school movie. Eventually she would get the guy and she would get her happy ending. If her and Vincenzo ever got together, they would be a power couple. But it seemed like Vinny didn’t take interest in her though. But that was okay. She seemed to like her singleness.  
“So Mr. Italy asked you to sit at your table?” She asked, looking at me. I smiled and nodded a bit as I looked over at Vinny.  
“Yeah, even called me handsome.” Bragging wasn’t in my nature but it seemed important to add that detail.   
“Well, a compliment of the highest form. I assume he asked you on a date as well? Or did we not get to that stage in the relationship yet?” She took my arm and smiled lightly as she walked me out of the cafeteria.   
“You know for a fucking fact that this was the first time we have ever talked in our entire school careers.” I kept walking with her and looked down a bit.  
“Well, maybe one day I will get to meet him or the happy couple?” She smiled and looked over at me. I blushed a bit, looking down.   
“I don’t think I would ever let him meet you. Might ruin Andy, if I even have any, of being with him.” Ashley rolled her eyes and smiled at me.   
“Is your gaydar broken? Do you need to return it to Tyler Oakley or Shane Dawson? Where do we send it to to get that thing fixed, anyhow? That man is gayer than you.” I blushed and looked at her. She smiled and looked at me. She kept walking until she found the girl’s bathroom, dragging me inside.  
“You know I don’t belong in here.” I whispered, looking around nervously. She giggled a bit and smiled.  
“What? You afraid of being a stereotype? Effeminate gay guy?” Her tongue touched her top teeth as she gave me a knowing look. I sighed and gave her the same face right back at her.  
“No, you know the fuck why I don’t belong in here.” I whispered angrily. She smiled lightly and giggled maniacally before playfully slapping my arm. I knew full well she knew why I didn’t belong in here. Thus, knew how to pull this ‘prank’ or ‘joke’ or whatever she wanted to call this. I sighed and pushed past her, walking out of the bathroom.


	3. Chapter Three

I pulled on a black leather jacket and gave myself one more look in the mirror. I was probably going to be late to the shoot but I wanted to make a good impression on him, my model. I wanted to make sure I was professional and casual all at the same time. My outfit wasn’t all that much either. It was all I wanted to say in the most minimalistic way I could. All I wore was a pair of jeans and a tee shirt in addition to the leather jacket my dad had left me. It was a bit ill-fitting in the arms since I wasn’t as muscular as my dad but I filled out the jacket pretty well. I thought I looked good which was all that I was. I smiled, grabbing my camera and it’s bag. I gave myself one final look in the mirror and walked out of the room, down the stairs and out into the world.  
The park wasn’t too far away from my house. It was within walking distance of most of the houses in the town I lived in which made my whole life a lot easier. I could walk there and back within about ten or so minutes. It was kind of nice being able to walk here and back. I liked getting the fresh air. I smiled and took in the warm, spring sun. I turned and looked at the meeting spot, a lone park bench overlooking the sledding hill. I definitely wasn’t late, which was good considering I had rushed due to me taking forever picking outfit. I wasn’t on time, maybe five minutes late, but Saul wasn’t here yet. I smiled and looked out across the park. On the way, I picked up some red roses.   
Little kids played with each other as concerned parents watched on. Some shot glances at me. I was a teenaged man wearing a leather jacket, alone in a park with a camera, watching some little kids playing. My hands worked mindlessly on the the flower crown. It was probably the most pleasant sight to see. People were weary of people like me. The outcasts of society that the parents of children were scared of. I was the one the entire town was scared of and it wasn’t even my fault. As soon as Saul came, I would probably look doubly creepy. We would fill up the creepy quota for the day.   
Our town was a bit weary of people like me and for good reason. One day, in the nineties and a few months before I was born, guys like who dressed and acted a bit like me killed their families and went off to kill their neighbors. As far as I knew, they beat their families then shot and burned the neighbors. They went on a literal witch hunt because they were apparently mad about not being able to go to prom or some petty reason like that and I was a replica of one of those men, almost. His name was Dillan and he was killed in a police shootout. No one really knew the whole reason as to why these kids killed their neighbors and families.   
“Where did you get that leather jacket? It’s so fucking cool.” A smooth, slightly accented voice asked me. I turned and looked at the voice. It was the same attractive man that had contacted me a few days earlier asking me about taking some photos of him. I smiled and got up, shaking his hand a bit in an awkward sort of greeting.   
“My dad left it to me after he died. Kind of cool, right?” I gave a slight turn, showing off the jacket to him. Saul’s eyes got wide as he looked at me.   
“Actually, I think I have the same jacket somewhere.” He gave me a slight smile and looked me over. I smiled back and looked down at the kids once more time. A few of the parents were still watching me, their eyes trained on the two of us.   
“Cool, do you have any ideas of what you want to do? It’s okay if you don’t because I have a few ideas running through my head.” I smiled and fiddled with my camera bag.  
“I don’t have any ideas. What do you have running trough your head?” I reached into my camera bag and pulled out a flower crown made from fresh roses. Saul looked at me, arching an eyebrow in confusion.   
“I’ve been kind of doing this thing with these rocker type dudes where I’m challenging the stereotypes in the rocker community, you know the ones that have cracked up in a few years with these hyper masculine dudes with like twenty five tattoos and assault charges. I want to make these guys seem a bit softer than they are. Show off their softer side, I guess.” I smiled and looked at him.   
“That sounds pretty cool, actually. I love the whole concept and everything. It kind of reminds me of the woman who did the same thing but with like, pit bulls. That’s super creative of you.” He looked at me and gestured for us to start walking. We moved without a word spoken and headed off on the few miles towards the wooded areas. It was a bit creepy considering we had just met physically for the first time a few moments ago and we were already on the same wavelength mentally.   
We walked for a few moments in complete silence. It wasn’t awkward at all, which was good. I hated awkward silences. It was a perfect silence that was only broken by the crunching of our feet on the leaves that had fallen to the ground. Our shoulders brushed past each other and a bit of static shot through my body. I smiled lightly and looked at him. We eventually paused in front of a statue of an angel. In our silence we agreed to shoot the pictures here.   
I pulled out my camera and looked at him. Saul took the flower crown out of my hands. I smiled and watched him place the perfect roses on top of his perfect curls. He sat down on the base of the statues and looked at me. I smiled and looked at him, pulling my camera up to my face. I shot hundreds of photos over the next few hours. He was good to work with and was able to take my direction without many words spoken between the both of us. I smiled and looked at him, finishing up the last of the photos.   
“I’ll edit these tomorrow and some of them will be on my Instagram page. But they will be emailed to you first. I’ll send you some raw photos and some edited photos.” I smiled and shook his hand.   
“It was nice meeting you and working with you. I can not wait to see the photos. I hope to work with you in the future.” Saul smiled and looked at me, shaking my hand. I smiled back and we went our separate ways.


End file.
